“Obnoxious”

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The computer screen reads, “Your admission decision has been updated.” In some cases, the process of viewing an admission decision for a college will be structured as: first, an intake of breath, then an exhale when clicking “view your decision”, and lastly, it can end with either a sigh of disappointment or a scream of excitement. As for Texas teen Michael Brown this month all twenty of his admission decisions led to a scream of excitement. His reactions were shown in a viral video on Twitter which circled its way up to even being broadcasted on Fox News. However, the opinions of the anchors, Holly Morris and Sarah Fraser, surprised viewers as they shockingly described Brown’s reaction to his success as “obnoxious”. Since the news anchors who stated their negative opinions are white, Twitter users have labeled this a racial issue. However, the college admission process has become more selective throughout the years – creating a lack of understanding for the excitement from Fox News’s part. Therefore, not only is the situation at hand a racial issue but it is as well a generational issue.

Now a days, teens are being bombarded with emails from colleges saying that they are “interested” in them or that they can not wait to read their application. However, are these colleges truly interested? They might be, but advertisement is part of the culture of the college admission process. By reaching out to several students, colleges are able to receive a plethora of applicants which allows them to accept a lesser amount of students in order to lower their acceptance rate; this of which Morris and Fraser would not have experienced since colleges would have had to pay for postal mail back then. The way in which the college admission process has shifted has at times toyed with student’s emotions; due to this, it is difficult for a student to rely on an acceptance. Therefore by the news anchors saying that Brown did not have to apply to all twenty schools, and that “he could have applied to five [and] it would have been equally as impressive,” does not make logical sense. This because a student never knows of what the admission council is looking for in a prospective student each year. So, the fact of Brown receiving a full ride scholarship and acceptance to all twenty of his applied schools definitely does justify his need for celebration. Due to the age gap between Brown and the anchors, the feeling of gratitude is one that both Fraser and Morris cannot empathize with.

Nonetheless, the age gap between both parties still does not vindicate the out of line and inconsiderate comments made by both anchors. If anything, their comments goes to show of how they let go of their professionalism at that moment. By working in television, the women should have thought about how media can greatly absorb and then spread what one says on screen. However, the year of 2017 and 2018 have been drowned with scandals about politicians even to the social elite: so by working for a news channel, Morris and Fraser should be more than familiar with the brute force of social media. So why did they say such things on television? In response, Twitter users have been saying that it is a racial issue – inferring that the news anchors have a naturally negative mindset towards the African American race. If this is so, it was the biased nature of Morris and Fraser that led them to describe Brown as, “ a little obnoxious … you are taking the spot of someone else who worked really hard”. By calling Brown “obnoxious” and accusing him of stealing an acceptance from “someone else” does create an opposition between the anchors and Brown. Still, do they mean stealing a spot from a white student? In her defense, Morris did go to Twitter to defend herself by saying “This is not a racial issue. I would have the exact same opinion if the boy was white,” but people are not convinced of her reasoning; Morris does not understand that if the people see a white person criticized a person of color, it will be seen and labeled as a racial issue. Additionally, Morris and Fraser seemed less sympathetic since they were responding to their social media backlash before they went and publicly apologized to Brown.

Now, Brown is patiently waiting for a public apology from Fox News. However if he receives it or not, it is safe to say that Morris and Fraser were unethical with their comments towards Brown. This is since both anchors cannot understand of what he and other high school students go through and of the prevalent racial issue that stays hidden in everyday life remarks.